El blog del atún rojo

Disaster for bluefin tuna at CITES meeting

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A stupid and short-sighted decision

Is this it? A quick vote and tuna is forgotten? There is no lack of evidence that bluefin tuna is being endangered by the very fisheries management body supposed to save it. Yet, vested interests have been allowed to put an entire species on the way to extinction. The governments who voted against the Appendix I listing for bluefin tuna did not have their people’s interest in mind. Short-sighted decisions like this show a definite lack of concern for the species’ well-being and, to be blunt, stupidity.

We thought the tragedy of the cod fishery in Newfoundland would have been a lesson kept in mind. It appears, though, that not only are the governments responsible for overfishing bluefin tuna unable to look to the future, they can’t even remember lessons from the past.

“The failure of countries to support proper protection for Atlantic bluefin tuna means business as usual for those whose only interest in the species is short term profit,” said Oliver Knowles, from our Oceans team at the meeting. “It is an own goal by Japan. By pushing for a few more years of this luxury product it has put the future of bluefin, and the future of its own supply at serious risk.”

On the brink of exctinction

There is no question bluefin tuna is in serious trouble. In 1999, we showed how in the Mediterranean bluefin tuna stocks had collapsed by 80 percent. Ten years later, scientists found that the population of Atlantic bluefin tuna is below 15 percent of what it was before commercial fishing began.

This sorry state of affairs is a combination of ever-growing demand for bluefin on international markets and atrocious management of the species. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the management body responsible for Atlantic bluefin, has repeatedly ignored the advice of its own scientists and failed to tackle overfishing and pirate fishing of the species. ICCAT couldn’t manage its way out of a paper bag, and has been deemed an ‘international disgrace’ by an independent review.

It is outrageous that a species has been (mis)managed to the brink of exctinction. Is this the best that modern fisheries management can deliver? To have abused a species so badly that it now faces commercial exctinction is a damning indictement on modern fisheries management.

What’s left to do?

What now? This might have been the last chance fo bluefin tuna. One glimmer of hope remains, however. Greenpeace campaigns for a network of marine reserves to be established on 40 percent of the world’s oceans. Such a network could protect essential spawning grounds and give species like bluefin tuna a life-saving break. After today’s CITES decision more than ever, if we want fish tomorrow, we need marine reserves today.

Thank you very much for the efforts you’ve made in the name of those who, like me, have been unable to attend the meeting. Very sad news you have delivered, yet still I believe in the power of consumers, it’s in our hands to stop consuming bluefin tuna, so it’s entirely on the public to decide wether we want this species to survive or not. That’s the fight we should be focusing on. Thanks, once again.